The woods whispered.
Branches swayed without wind, casting strange shadows that bent away from the rising sun. As Tylor, Amaira, Kayla, and Elias followed the cable's trail, the world around them thickened—like they were wading through an unseen current.
The forest had changed.
"This used to be open space," Elias muttered. "Now it's grown in tight… too fast to be natural."
Kayla's tablet beeped. "There's a pulse ahead. Fracture energy."
They pushed forward until they reached a clearing, choked with tangled roots circling a rusted satellite dish—half buried, still humming faintly. A tear shimmered in the air above it. Not a fracture, but something new: a vertical slit of reflected space, like someone had sliced reality with a mirror.
From inside, voices echoed.
Amaira stepped forward, pendant glowing.
A voice whispered from the rift: "Don't trust the first smile."
Tylor grabbed her arm. "What does that mean?"
Before she could answer, a figure emerged from the mirror-slit.
It was Amaira.
But taller. Eyes sharper. Her pendant, uncracked.
And her voice? Calm. Calculated.
"I'm not your enemy," she said. "I'm what she created to survive."
Kayla stepped forward, guarded. "She who?"
The mirror-Amaira tilted her head. "The woman your father was protecting. The one you never met."
Tylor froze. "You mean… my mother?"
Mirror-Amaira nodded. "Not the Elena you knew. The one from before the split. She left behind more than just journals."
The rift behind her pulsed again—and another voice came through.
This one sounded just like Daniel. Only... older.
And afraid.